Skip to content
Capital Africa
Commodities · Practical · Programme preview

Gold, Minerals and Commodity Trade

The transaction taught properly: who is involved, what is measured, how every document is verified, and exactly where it goes wrong.

Full course in preparation. Enrolment, fees and dates are not yet open.

Proposed total
20 hours
Module learning
14 hours
Guided practice
3 hours
Assignment
3 hours

Planning estimates, including 14 modules. Your pace and the final delivery format may change the timetable.

Learning outcomes

What you will practise.

  • Identify each participant in a commodity transaction and what they are responsible for
  • Establish weight and purity through an assay you commissioned rather than one you were handed
  • Verify a licence, permit or certificate directly with the authority that issued it
  • Recognise the advance fee, urgency and forged document patterns before they cost you money
  • Assemble a transaction file that stands up before any payment leaves your account
Your proposed final exercise

A practical piece of work.

A fictional mineral transaction file with evidence gaps and decision points.

Fictional training scenarios. Feedback and assessment arrangements will be confirmed with the final programme.

Explore the syllabus

14 modules. A clear progression.

01

How the gold trade actually works

60 min
  • The chain from producer to refinery
  • Where a foreign buyer can and cannot enter it

Proposed learning: Written lesson · Worked example

02

Market participants

60 min
  • Producer, dealer, exporter, buyer
  • Refinery, laboratory, logistics, bank, regulator
  • Who carries which obligation

Proposed learning: Written lesson · Worked example

03

Weight, purity and assay

60 min
  • Units and measurement
  • Fire assay, XRF and what each one proves
  • What an assay establishes and what it does not

Proposed learning: Written lesson · Worked example

04

The independent assay

60 min
  • Commissioning your own test rather than accepting one
  • Choosing the laboratory and controlling the sample
  • Why a refusal to allow independent testing ends the conversation

Proposed learning: Checklist

05

Pricing

60 min
  • Reference price versus transaction price
  • What a steep discount to spot is actually telling you

Proposed learning: Written lesson · Worked example

06

Licences, permits and lawful export

60 min
  • Dealer licence, export permit, certificate of origin
  • What a lawful export requires end to end

Proposed learning: Checklist

07

Verifying a document with the issuer

60 min
  • Document references, dates and issuing bodies
  • Confirming it with the issuing authority directly, never through the seller
  • Why an emailed PDF proves nothing on its own

Proposed learning: Worked example · Checklist

08

Verifying the counterparty

60 min
  • Registration, ownership and standing
  • Matching the licence holder to the person in front of you

Proposed learning: Written lesson · Worked example

09

Site and inventory verification

60 min
  • What a site visit establishes and what it cannot
  • Warehouses rented for the visit, and mines that cannot be located independently
  • Arranging observation you control rather than a tour the seller controls

Proposed learning: Case study

10

Chain of custody

60 min
  • Sealing, transfer and documentation at each handover
  • Where custody breaks and who is exposed when it does

Proposed learning: Written lesson · Worked example

11

Responsible sourcing

60 min
  • OECD due diligence guidance for mineral supply chains
  • What a buyer is expected to have asked

Proposed learning: Written lesson · Worked example

12

Payment structures and exposure

60 min
  • Escrow, letters of credit, payment on assay
  • Which side carries the risk under each one
  • Why unverified advance-fee demands require a pause and independent checks

Proposed learning: Checklist

13

The fraud patterns that recur

60 min
  • Advance fees for tax, clearance or documentation
  • Manufactured urgency and the expiring offer
  • Forged certificates, licences and origin papers
  • Why each one works on serious, experienced people

Proposed learning: Case study

14

Building your transaction file

60 min
  • What you should be holding, in what order, before any money moves

Proposed learning: Downloadable guide · Assignment

This is the programme outline. The full lessons and any recordings are still being prepared.

A natural crystalline gold specimen on quartz, lit against a dark background.
Start today · Free

Map a Mineral Transaction

Understand the roles, evidence and open questions in a mineral supply chain before considering a transaction.

Read the explanation, try a fictional scenario and use the worksheet. Allow about 30 minutes for reading and practice.

Learning and practical support

Take the next step with clarity.

The Academy teaches a process. If you need work carried out on your own business, asset or transaction, discuss an advisory engagement with a separate scope.

Before enrolment opens

The final course will state its learning materials, named tutors where relevant, study time, fee, access period and any completion requirements. No external accreditation or professional qualification is claimed.

Educational material does not replace legal, financial, tax or engineering advice, laboratory testing or current guidance from the relevant authorities.

Your next step

What would you like to understand better?

Tell us your subject, experience and preferred way to learn. We will help you find the appropriate starting point.